Judge Lamberth concluded that the government proved by a preponderance of the evidence that Al-Warafi was a Taliban member subject to detention under the AUMF. Al Warafi had argued in the first instance that he was not part of the Taliban but rather a volunteer medical worker in Afghanistan, and in the alternative that even if a Taliban member his capacity as a medical worker should have spared him detention.

Among the interesting aspects of the opinion, it:

– explicitly rejects the proposition that the government must show the person to be a danger if released in order to detain him

– accepts that Al-Warafi’s interrogation statements were reliable. Al-Warafi did not allege coercion or taint from prior coercion. Judge Lamberth noted the consistency of these statements with his ARB statements, but did not explicitly indicate that corroboration had been required for the interrogation statements to be deemed reliable Read the rest of this entry »